Sound of life

I live in an apartment in the city. I know a lot of people and families live in the apartment but it’s curious how I don’t run into people that often in the corridors. For the most part, the walk from my place to the elevator is a very quiet and dull one. I have a particularly long walk to the elevator because of where my flat is, and I’ve sometimes imagined it as a corridor leading up to a large football stadium, where players get mentally ready as they walk through it to enter the arena.

Anyways, that’s how it usually is, quiet and dull, with nobody bumping into me. But in the evenings, it’s a very different atmosphere. I walk past each door, and I can hear things (thanks to the subpar sound proofing between these walls). I can hear chatter, old and young, cutleries clanging against bowls, a child’s laughter or a cry sometimes, and the smell of course, the smell of dinner! Today I smelt what to me seemed like Korean savoury chive pancakes, and carbonara as I walked the corridors to the rubbish room. I felt a weird sense of connection to these people, most of whom I don’t even know the faces of. I felt warm, but also lonely.

Autumn is already here and the day light is shorter and I can feel it in my heart, that winter is coming. But I got my dose of warmth from the corridors that were so empty and dull this morning.

Sound of life, the smell of dinner. The small things in life.